akil amar and sterling professor of law at yale law school. and msnbc contributor, victoria defrancesco soto. great to have you all here. all right. if president obama wants to get anything done in his second term, democrats in the senate will have to overcome one major obstacle, the filibuster. since democrats took control of both chambers of congress in 2007, republicans have used the filibuster as a bludgeon against them to pass basic legislation. the senate bills that actually passed has dropped from just over 25% to a record low of 2.8% this year. the rate held steady at 10% through the clinton and bush years and then plummeted when democrats took control of congress in 2007. that is due in no small part to the filibuster. it's mutated to a routine impediment to legislative progress. it has turned congress into a body incapable of acting except in times of crises. it's just like the fiscal cliff right now. this was designed to force congress to deal with the deficit. now senate majority leader harry reid is proposing changes to the filibu